It was a huge day of voting for the Emmis owned station in St. Louis. The station garnered just enough votes to catapult to the top of our poll edging out WMMR in Philadelphia in day three of our voting.

The mystery about Hall of Fame host Kathy Hart was in the news again Thursday. Hart is co-host of the Eric & Kathy morning show on Hubbard's WTMX in Chicago and she's been off the air since April. Hart's contract is up in December and she's been negotiating with the station to bring the matter to some sort of conclusion.

There's been some speculation as to what would happen to the CBS/Entercom deal if Entercom's stock continued to slide. After meeting with Entercom CEO David Field and CFO Rich Schmaeling, Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker told investors not to worry, there is no "out" in this deal.

More from the Ryvicker investor meeting where David Field was asked why iHeartMedia was doing so well posting revenue growth for 17 consecutive quarters and margins in the high 30%'s. Ryvicker writes, Field believes it’s because of iHeartMedia's scale and national footprint, which gives the company a seat at the table with some of the largest advertisers.

This has to do with coverage of the expansion Las Vegas Knights of the National Hockey League. After CBS Radio lost its bid to cover the team to Lotus Communications, Operations Manager J.B. King sent out an email to all CBS Radio Las Vegas employees, telling them not to mention a word on the air about the team, not even scores from the game.

Are you working for one of radio's greatest managers? Make your nomination now for Radio Ink's 2017 Best Managers in Radio list. Nominees must be current General Managers, Market Managers, or Regional Vice Presidents. Your deadline to nominate is Friday, August 25. Make your nomination HERE.

We all know that air checks are a standard yet critical tool in the radio industry. Whether it be for campaign verification or programming evaluation, the air check process has not changed very much in the last 50 years - it is still fairly laborious and time consuming. While emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) technology has been touted as game changing for variety of industries, the radio industry can also leverage this technology to their advantage.

Dave Reilly submitted his resignation Wednesday night to the owner and General Manager of WHLM in Bloomsberg Pennsylvania, his father Joe Reilly. It was accepted. Advertisers started bolting from the radio station after Dave Reilly was seen in a Unite-the-Right video posted to YouTube.

Getting in on the Amazon Echo craze, Beasley Media Group has chosen SonicAi, the partnership between jācapps and Amplifi Media, to power its radio stations on the smart speaker device. Listeners to most of Beasley's 63 radio stations will soon be able to call up their favorite Beasley station with a simple command if they own the Amazon device. They will not only be able to play the station's stream, they will be able to call up specific station features.

A new agreement is signed between the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and Cumulus, extending the partnership between the two companies through the 2022-2023 season. Cumulus' sports/talk station ESPN 103.3 FM has been the exclusive radio broadcast home for Mavericks coverage since 2001. Chuck Cooperstein will continue as in the play-by-play chair for the games.

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Keith Hotchkiss has been named Region President for North Ohio. iHeartMedia North Ohio includes 30 stations in Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, Lima, Ashland, Mansfield, Marion and Defiance. Hotchkiss joins the region from iHeartMedia’s Virginia-Carolina Region, where he most recently served as Regional Senior VP of Sales. Hotchkiss replaces Gary Mincer.

On Thursday The board of directors of the New York State Broadcasters Association announced that iHeartMedia CEO Bob Pittman has been named its “Broadcaster of the Year.” NYSBA President David Donavan said, “Bob Pittman is a true industry leader and perhaps the most creative, visionary and dynamic executive in broadcasting. His views not only shape the radio industry, but the future of all media in this country.” Pittman has been named Radio Ink's Most Powerful Person in Radio for 7 consecutive years.

Miguel “Mijo” Irizarry is joining the air staff at CBS Radio's Power 96 (WPOW-FM) in Miami beginning Monday, August 28. Irizarry will host weeknights from 7:00 PM to Midnight. He replaces Ivy “Unleashed” who was moved to afternoon drive.

The company has named John Scaggs as its new Chief Executive Officer. He succeeds Bob Augsburg, who founded the organization 30 years ago with his wife Felice, is retiring. Augsburg said, "John is perfectly suited to take over the reins of WAY Media. He has served the Ministry so well over many years as a board member as well as a strategic sounding board and prayer support to me. I couldn't be happier with this decision."

Salem Media Group has promoted Sue Garrett to General Manager in Omaha. Garrett has been the GSM for the Omaha sales team for the past seven years. Senior VP for Broadcast Operations Linnae Young said, “Omaha has been a very productive market for Salem. It is gratifying to see someone within our own company be recognized and given this quality opportunity.”

Omny Studio has signed an agreement with CBS Radio giving CBS a license to the Omny Studio platform. CBS Radio will now be able to use Omny Studio’s podcast hosting, analytics and social sharing tools. CBS Radio has over 350 podcasts.

The iHeartRadio for GM app integration with General Motors will be available in select 2018 Chevrolet, Cadillac, and GMC vehicles, including the just-released Chevy Traverse. Drivers can choose from thousands of live broadcast radio stations nationwide and create their own commercial-free Custom Artist Stations

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